ALBANY – Eliot Spitzer swept to a smashingly lopsided primary victory over Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi last night in the governor’s race, while Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton sailed to an easy win over her anti-war challenger.

Spitzer’s defeat of Suozzi – which saw the nationally prominent “Sheriff of Wall Street” chalk up massive margins in all regions of the state – had been predicted by polls for months.

But even many Democratic and Republican Party professionals were surprised at how badly Suozzi – a strong and proven vote-getter on his own Nassau County turf – did as a statewide candidate.

With 41 percent of the vote in, Spitzer had 82 percent, while Suozzi had 18 percent.

Suozzi’s effort failed to make significant inroads in any area of the Democratic electoral base, including among hometown Nassau voters, despite his aggressive – and sometimes highly negative – $10 million campaign.

Suozzi, who billed himself as a Democratic outsider bent on reform, angered Spitzer, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, and other party leaders with several personal attacks on the front-runner including the charge that Spitzer acted “illegally” in handling a charitable trust controlled by his father.

Spitzer was upbeat about his resounding victory, saying it showed that “the public responded affirmatively first and foremost to my record of eight years of hard work.”

“The [voting] numbers are comforting and they remind me of how much we have to do and re-emphasize for me my sense of dedication as to what has to be done.”

Polls show Spitzer has a 50-percentage-point lead over the little-known Republican nominee, John Faso.

Spitzer had some kind words for Suozzi, despite the nasty tone of his campaign.

“Tom ran a good, hard campaign raising important issues and he served the debate well,” said Spitzer.

Suozzi, for his part, told friends he was satisfied that his losing campaign had forced Spitzer to address such issues as high property taxes and political corruption in state government.

Clinton challenger Jonathan Tasini – a politically unknown labor activist with few campaign resources – sought to rally support by attacking the former first lady’s support for the war in Iraq.

“All the ingredients for a big win by Spitzer and Clinton were there from the start,” said Marist College poll director Lee Miringoff.

“They both had campaign experience, they both had huge financial advantages and they were both enormously popular with Democratic voters, which doesn’t make for an environment favorable for a challenge.”

Meanwhile, former Yonkers Mayor John Spencer was victorious in the nasty and often personal GOP Senate primary – the only Republican primary contest – with Reagan-era Pentagon spokeswoman Kathleen “KT” McFarland.